Three simple, routinely collected measurements together provide insight into the risk faced by community-dwelling patients hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure, according to data collected from 3620 patients at one US center. The 3 measures are blood urea nitrogen, systolic blood pressure, and serum creatinine.
Using dichotomous cutoffs first calculated a decade ago, these 3 parameters distinguish up to an eight-fold range of postdischarge mortality during the 30 or 90 days following an index hospitalization, and up to a four-fold range of risk for rehospitalization for heart failure during the ensuing 30 or 90 days. More on this study is available at Cardiology News: http://www.ecardiologynews.com/specialty-focus/heart-failure/single-article-page/aha-three-measures-risk-stratify-acute-heart-failure/db179da4df9d20baa44be88152c1598f.html.